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The United Kingdom's economy is very integrated with that of the European Union, particularly in agriculture, and disentangling the UK economy may lead to significant changes in legal regimes and trade patterns.

ERS plays a leading role in Federal research on food security and food security measurement in U.S. households and communities and provides data access and technical support to social science scholars to facilitate their research.

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The 2014-15 U.S. outbreak of Highly-Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) resulted in the loss of more than 50 million birds. The market impacts reflect not only lower production, but also the loss of overseas markets for broiler meat.

The rural population is shrinking due to outmigration of young adults, fewer births, increased mortality among working-age adults, and an aging population. Rural job growth since 2011 has been well below the urban growth rate.

ERS analyzed the impact of a USDA regulatory initiative that identified commercial chicken slaughter establishments with poor or mediocre ratings on Salmonella tests – specifically, how this has affected the outcome of subsequent tests.

U.S. manufacturing employment has been declining since the 1950s. A better understanding of the factors affecting the survival of rural manufacturing plants may help develop strategies to retain these jobs.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has undergone economic, social, and demographic transformations over the past 10 to 15 years. Among the poorest regions in the world, it faces major political and economic challenges and low food security.

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Assessing Food Security

The share of food-insecure people in the 76 low- and middle-income countries included in this report is projected to fall from 17.7 percent in 2017 to 8.9 percent in 2027. The number of food-insecure people is projected to fall markedly, 42 percent, which is slightly above the decline in the intensity of food insecurity, at the aggregate level.

The share of food-insecure people in the 76 low- and middle-income countries included in this report is projected to fall from 17 percent in 2016 to 6 percent in 2026. The number of food-insecure people is projected to fall markedly, 59 percent, which matches the decline in the intensity of food insecurity, at the aggregate level.

This report projects that the number of food-insecure people will fall 9 percent—from 521 million in 2014 to 475 million in 2015—in the 76 low- and middle-income countries included in the ERS report. Over the longer term, however, the food security situation is expected to deteriorate, with the share of the population that is food insecure projected to reach 15.1 percent in 2025, up from 13.4 percent in 2015.

This report projects that the number of food-insecure people will fall 9 percent—to 490 million in 2014 from 539 million in 2013—in the 76 low- and middle-income countries included in the ERS report. Over the longer term, however, the food security situation is expected to deteriorate, with the share of the population that is food insecure projected to reach 14.6 percent in 2024, up from 13.9 percent in 2014.

This report projects that Food security in the 76 low- and middle-income countries examined will remain unchanged between 2012 and 2013. By 2023, however, the number of food-insecure people is projected to increase nearly 23 percent to 868 million, with the share of the population that is food insecure growing from 20.4 percent to 21.5 percent (June 2013).

This report estimates that food security will improve slightly in 2012 as the number of food-insecure people in the 76 countries covered in this report declines from 814 million in 2011 to 802 million in 2012. The share of the population that is food insecure remains at 24 percent. Over the next decade, the food-insecure share of the population is projected to decline from 24 percent in 2012 to 21 percent in 2022, but the number of food-insecure people is projected to increase by 37 million. Regionally, food insecurity is projected to remain most severe in Sub-Saharan Africa (July 2012).

This report provides a quantitative assessment of food security using a large household-level expenditure survey conducted by the Government of India during 2004/05. The analysis examines the impact of using alternative assumptions to compute actual calories consumed on estimates of the number of food-insecure people in India (May 2012).

This report uses a unique nationally representative household survey from Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest and most food-insecure countries, to investigate the impact of rising staple food prices on household food security. The econometric approach controls for household, district, and province factors to isolate the effects of the sudden rise in wheat flour prices in 2008 on several measures of household well-being related to food security. The results show large declines in food consumption and dietary diversity but smaller declines in calories consumed (July 2011).

This report estimates that the number of food-insecure people in 77 lower income countries will decrease about 1 percent from 2010 to 852 million in 2011. The number of food-insecure people at the aggregate level is projected to decline by 16 percent over the next decade, with most of the improvement coming in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean (July 2011).

This report updates food commodity prices, domestic grain production, and export earnings data used in the USDA-ERS Food Security Assessment, 2010-20. Despite higher food prices, results show an overall improvement in food security in 2010 relative to the 2010 projections. The total number of food-insecure people is estimated to be 9 percent lower than the initial estimate. Sub-Saharan Africa is the one region included in the study where food security is estimated to have unambiguously improved relative to the earlier analysis. With domestic grain production accounting for roughly 80 percent of the region's grain consumption, the key driver of the improved result was an increase in grain production compared with the earlier estimate (May 2011).

This report estimates that the number of food-insecure people in 70 lower income developing countries will decrease about 7.5 percent from 2009 to 882 million in 2010, due in part to economic recovery in many of these countries. The number of food-insecure people at the aggregate level will not improve much over the next decade, declining by 1 percent from 2010 to 2020 (July 2010).

Improving Food Security

This report examines many of the well-publicized reforms to improve distribution of subsidized food grains, many of which have been incorporated into the recently passed National Food Security Act, which has been implemented by the Indian State of Chhattisgarh. The study shows that per capita food consumption in Chhattisgarh increased in response to these reforms and that the increase in food aid helped improve food security in the State (March 2014).

This report updates cross-price elasticities from the World Bank’s 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP) data for nine major consumption categories across 144 countries in this report. The consumption categories are food, beverage and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing; house furnishings and operations; medical and health; transport and communications; recreation; education; and “other” (January 2014).

This report examines the implications for food demand and trade that are influenced by the extent to which modern food retailers focus primarily on growing preferences for nonprice characteristics, such as dietary diversity, convenience, and quality, as opposed to introducing supply chain efficiencies that may reduce real food prices over time (July 2011).

This report states that most poor countries do not have the financial resources to support national food safety net programs. As a result, they depend on international food aid. Differing objectives in food aid programs, lack of consistency among donors' approaches to food aid, and types of food donated—for example, the share of higher priced, noncereal foods, which are unlikely to reach the poorest segment of the population, is growing—are just a few factors that limit the effectiveness of food aid (Amber Waves, September 2004).

Trade and Food Security

This report evaluates the impact of Indonesia’s transition from a food-first focus to an export-oriented development strategy on its agricultural production, productivity growth, consumer food demand, and lifestyle. Shifting production and consumption patterns have led to improvements in agricultural trade patterns and food security, which in turn have contributed to increased export opportunities for U.S. agricultural suppliers (May 2010).

This report examines Malawi, a country that earns most of its foreign exchange from tobacco, for a study of export concentration and, in the case of tobacco, heavy exposure to volatility. The econometric results suggest that the decline in Malawi's gross domestic product (GDP) when tobacco exports are falling is almost three times greater than the increase in GDP when exports are rising (July 2009).

This report suggests that future developments in India's food grain sector will be shaped by how policies adapt to the sector's new economic environment. Some changes, such as reducing price supports and the scope of government food grain operations, would likely cut government costs, benefit consumers, allow a larger private sector role in the domestic market, and increase reliance on trade (May 2007).

This report presents the ﬁndings of a study that focuses on the effect of Brazil’s science and technology investments and other public policies on farm production. The ﬁndings indicate that agricultural research beneﬁts have been most rapidly adopted by the most efﬁcient farms, widening the productivity gap between these farms and average farms. That gap, however, has been narrowed through other public policies, such as rural credit and infrastructure investments, that favor average producers (July 2012).

Michigan State University; Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics; Food Security Group. Information on the Department's cooperative agreement with USAID's Global Bureau, including links to project objectives, country/regional activities, and publications from 1993 to the present.